For the last two to three weeks I have been experiencing occasional, mild pain in my left thumb. It felt like a pulled muscle of tendon, no tingling or numbness, so I mentally ruled out carpal tunnel syndrome. I initially hoped it would heal on it’s own and tried to go easy on the thumb for a bit. It was not getting worse, but it was not getting better either, so I booked an appointment today with the Brown Hand Center to see if they could tell me what was going on.

The doctor there very quickly homed in on my thumb pain, knew just where to gently press to reproduce the pain, and quickly diagnosed me with mild Trigger Thumb. He told me it was most likely caused by an inflammation of the tendon, and that the continued use of my thumb was preventing it from healing. Since my thumb was not locking up, and the pain was mild, he recommended wearing a splint on my hand to immobilize the thumb and let it heal. We went ahead and set a date for surgery a few weeks later in case the splint was ineffective and surgery was necessary.

The surgery itself is a minimally invasive outpatient procedure that takes roughly ten minutes. Recovery is minimal; I would be able to work the next day if I chose to. The doctor also mentioned a treatment option using steroids, but mentioned that steroids could weaken the tendons and he preferred not to use them.

So, for the next few weeks, I have no left thumb! Good times, good times. I am challenging myself to see how many things I can do without using that thumb.

Today I have decided to learn everything on Jaco’s self-titled solo debut CD. That is a pretty large goal, and I know I will not be able to go through it as fast as I would like. Jaco’s music is some of my favourite music, all genres and artists considered. His playing has always drawn me as a bass player. While there are many other great players I look up to, Jaco is the one I want to emulate the most. I want to absorb his skill set, to whatever degree I can.

Musically I am bored right now. Most of the stuff I play is simple from a musical perspective. Even when learning new material, most of the time the technical skill required to play the patterns is all I am picking up. The reason why the player chose the those notes is within my understanding. A lot of what Jaco was doing is far beyond my knowledge, and very different from what I am playing right now. I do not expect to suddenly know the mind of Jaco after following through one CD, but I do hope that by playing his licks, his grooves, I will be pushed out of my comfort zone, theoretically as well as technically. To me, Jaco’s lines always created a thick groove, and yet they are some of the busiest bass lines I have heard. I want to be able to place notes like he did.

Maybe I will record and post stuff I have learned to YouTube.

I am sitting here after a long day in Paris. If you will excuse my indulgence, I want to write down what happened today.  It was a fun, exhausting, rewarding day. I warn you, this is a bit long. (more…)